I wonder where we are on the list. There is a great deal of controversy with these lists because they can be gamed.

Another issue I have is listing any of the service academies on the list as a public university. There is a quota for entering any of the service academies, so it is impractical for the average person to think of attending them.

I am proud of my bachelor's degree and doctorate degree from Clemson. We are clearly an excellent university, but I do think the SC State legislature has priced Clemson out of the category of affordable public universities by their limited funding (I think Clemson now receives less than 15% of its overall budget from the state). All one has to do is compare in-state tuition at Clemson to in-state tuition in Georgia or North Carolina, our immediate neighboring states to realize that. The poor funding of the state legislature has forced us to raise our tuition.